God Does not Repent!

When God calls a man, He does not repent of it. God does not, as many friends do, love one day, and hate another; or as princes, who make their subjects favourites, and afterwards throw them into prison. This is the blessedness of a saint; his condition admits of no alteration. God’s call is founded upon His decree, and His decree is immutable. Acts of grace cannot be reversed. God blots out His people’s sins, but not their names.
— Thomas Watson

Oh, what comfort there is in the fact that God is nothing like us! Our love is so often based on the merits of the object. If our spouse, children, friends, co-workers are lovely that particular day, we bless them with affection. The minute conflicts arise, fellowship is broken and reconciliation must take place. Jesus’ love for his bride is unconditional. He has brought reconciliation once and for all through the blood shed for us. Our sins have been forgiven and He will not bring charge against us ever again. “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Cor 5:21) His decree is immutable, and thus His love and our salvation is secure. “God blots out His people’s sins, but not their names.” May His great love with which He has loved us transform us in our everyday lives. May we be filled with this sacrificial, unconditional love for our brethren.

David Platt is the Man!

Last month I had the opportunity to attend T4G in Louisville, Kentucky. The whole conference blessed my socks off, but my favorite speaker was a guy I hadn’t even heard of til that point. His name is David Platt and he preached a sermon entitled “An Unadjusted Gospel in an Unreached World: Connecting Gospel Theology with Urgent Missiology”… It was one of those sermons that made you take a step back, stop and re-evaluate the way you are living. It made me think again, for what purpose did God create and redeem me. He opened again my eyes to the urgency of the true, unperverted, unadjusted Gospel going forth to a world enslaved to sin. My hope is that you will take the time to listen to this sermon which was recently uploaded to the T4G site. Here is your audio LINK, nice big and Green so that you cant miss it. He is the last speaker on the list,  just in case you can’t find it. Enjoy and let me know what you think.

Do you Love Jesus? – David Platt

What does it mean to hate father and mother, children or spouse?

New post coming soon!!!

really I promise…. Reading some good stuff.

Sorrow, Pleasure, and Repentance.

Though it be a deep sorrow for sin that God requires as  necessary to salvation, yet the very nature of it necessarily implies delight. Repentance from sin is a sorrow arising from the sight of God’s excellency and mercy, but the apprehension of excellency or mercy must necessarily and unavoidably beget pleasure in the mind of the beholder… How much soever of a paradox it may seem, it is a true that repentance  is a sweet sorrow, so that the more of this sorrow, the more pleasure.” – Jonathan Edwards

Oh that we would have this pleasant pain. The pain of sorrow woven together with the greatest joy of knowing and treasuring Jesus!

Prayer Causes Things to Happen – John Piper

God’s Sovereign Will

Today we got mail… Yes I am a big fan of going through the mail even if most of the time it’s only advertisements for mattress sales or coupons for the grocery store… Today’s mail included a letter from Desiring God Ministries along with the water bill. Okay, the water bill wasn’t too exciting, though it was 79 cents less than what I budgeted for. The letter from DGM however contained a very interesting article written by Jon Bloom.

It was all about God’s sovereign love in carrying out His will in His people’s lives. He shared about Joseph (Jesus’ earthly dad) and all stress, anxiety, and worry that he must have faced through the first few years of Jesus’ life. Traveling a 100 miles to Bethlehem on foot with pregnant Mary all because of a stupid census; Escaping to Egypt under the threat of the baby Messiah’s execution; Coming back to Nazareth instead of Bethlehem; always on the run, not being able to settle anywhere. He probably struggled to find work, and probably struggled to support his new family. Life was chaotic. All these things however fit perfectly into God’s sovereign plan of redemption. Prophesies were fulfilled, and nothing took God by surprise.

Bloom brings encouragement to his readers by saying,

The unplanned, inefficient detours of our lives are planned by God. They are common for disciples, and they commonly don’t make sense for the moment. But God’s ways are not our ways because our lives are about Him, not about us. He is orchestrating far more than we know in every unexpected event and delay… So when you find yourselves suddenly in a direction you had not planned, take heart, hold tight, and trust God’s navigation.”

I like that, “But God’s way’s are not our ways because our lives are about Him, not about us.” What comfort there is to be grasped knowing that God is in control of our lives and He will use us to glorify His name through any twist and turn in this life.

Proverbs 16:9 “The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps”

J. C. Hahne